Piano Major Chord, Minor & 7th

Piano Major Chord

Learning every basic piano major chord, minor and 7th is probably the easiest and fastest way to learn your favorite songs on the piano. When you start learning piano, you may thing that chords are just another part of music theory. However, as you learn more chords, you’ll realize their importance. The better you master chords, the easier it will be for you to cover other areas of music

Piano Major Chord Basics

If you’re ready to learn each piano major chord, minor and 7th, there are some important things you need to know before you begin. Just follow these five tips so you can get started with the most basic chords on piano. Here’s a link to download a great chord chart with all the basic chords to play any style of music you want. To get it, just go toPiano Chart Download.

Learn the White Notes – Before learning any piano major chord, minor, or 7th, you first need to learn where to find the notes on the keyboard. Your piano or keyboard has a group of 12 notes: 7 white notes and 5 black notes. The same pattern repeats throughout your keyboard. (see picture). The black keys are in groups of 2 and 3, and you’ll find the C at the left of the first 2 black keys. The rest of the notes are named in sequence C to G and then A and B.

Learn the Black Notes – The black notes are called sharps and flats. A sharp note is a half tone higher than its note name and a flat is a half tone lower. For example, the C sharp (C#) is the black note to the right of the C note and an E flat (Eb) is the black note to the left of the E note. You’ll notice that a black key can have two names. For instance the first black key is a C sharp if you’re going up from a C note, but it would be a D flat if you’re going down from a D note.

Learn the Main Chords – Start by learning every basic piano major chord, minor and 7th, because these are the main chords. A C major chord contains the 1st, 3rd and 5th notes of the C scale. The C minor contains the 1st, flat 3rd and 5th notes of the C scale. The C seventh (C7) contains the 1st, 3rd, 5th, and flat 7th notes of the C scale. (see image).

Piano Major Chord Example

Learn Main Chords in Other Keys – Now that you know the 3 main chords in the key of C, the next step is to learn these 3 chords in all keys. The D chords: D, Dm, D7, the E chords: E, Em, E7, and so forth. You’ve probably noticed by now that chords are built in patterns, so learning new chords gradually will become easier for you.

Use the Right Fingers – Using the wrong fingers will only make it harder for you to master the process of learning know how to play any piano major chord, minor and 7th . For the major and minor chords, use fingers 5-3-1 of your left hand. The fingers you should use for all 4 note seventh chords are 5-3-2-1.

There are hundreds of chords however, don’t be intimidated by this. You don’t need to learn every variation of a piano major chord, minor and 7th. Just learn these 3 basic chords in a few keys and you’ll be ready to play a large number of your favorite songs. Remember, it’s a lot easier to learn any piano major chord when you take one step at a time.